2016 NPL Youth Team Preview: Round 9

The Adelaide United Youth Team will verse Adelaide Raiders in Round 9 of the 2016 National Premier League at the Croatian Sports Centre on Saturday night.

Having impressed in the National Premier League (NPL) thus far, with wins and solid performances against some of the top teams in South Australia, the Adelaide United Youth Team have proven their abilities despite being a young side.

They will seek to acquire more recognition with a win against Adelaide Raiders following an unfortunate result at the hands of Adelaide Comets last weekend, and continue their progress on the NPL ladder.

The Young Reds’ Head Coach, Mark Jones, remains adamant that his side can overcome any team if they put in the hard yards and commented on their recent training sessions and what the team has been working on to consolidate their wins and performances from earlier on in the season.

“Some of the boys have been a bit under the weather, and were unable to train this week, but we are back on track,” Jones said.

“We’ve had good training sessions this week and continued to work hard on areas that have cost us the past two games.

“We need to define our defensive shape and become stronger as we need to lessen the amount of goals we concede, even limit it to zero.

“The team were very tidy at the start of the season in limiting the opposition of goals, but that has doubled recently.

“Another specific area we need to work on is scoring more goals ourselves, as that is the only way we will get wins.”

Jones believes in his team’s resiliency that has shown as they step out to play every week, and that this will get them through to attain the three points on Saturday night. But the Raiders will be another tough battle to get through.

“The team are very resilient and they perform to the best of their abilities every week,” Jones continued. “But there is potential to be better and if we work harder and focus on our preparations we will become better.

“We need to remain disciplined against the Raiders and win those one versus one battles, especially defensively to limit them any opportunities on goal.

“A win will give the boys more confidence and consolidate the performances from the start of the season, sending out a message that we will not settle for anything less.”

Adelaide United Youth Team will face Adelaide Raiders in Round 9 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League on Saturday, 30 April at the Croatian Sports Centre. Kick-off is at 7.00pm ACST.